Heat roll past Celtics 128-102, take 3-0 lead in Conference Finals

MIAMI (AP)— Gabe Vincent scored a career-high 29 points, Duncan Robinsonadded 22 and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat moved one win from theNBA Finals after rolling past the Boston Celtics 128-102 on Sundaynight in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference title series.

CalebMartin scored 18, Jimmy Butler finished with 16, Bam Adebayo had 13and Max Strus added 10 for Miami, which leads the series 3-0. Everyteam in NBA history that has won the first three games of abest-of-seven has ultimately prevailed; the Heat are 8-0 in thatsituation.

JaysonTatum scored 14 and Jaylen Brown added 12 for the Celtics, who wonthree times on Miami’s floor on the way to winning last season’sEastern Conference finals — but simply never had a chance in thisone and basically emptied the bench for the fourth quarter.

GrantWilliams and Payton Pritchard each had 12 for Boston. Game 4 isTuesday in Miami.

The NBAFinals start June 1, and the way things are going, that might meanthe league is about to go a few days without games. The WesternConference finals could end Monday; Denver leads that seriesagainst the Los Angeles Lakers 3-0. And now, the East finals couldend Tuesday.

There’snever been a season where both conference finals ended in sweeps;it happened in 1957 in the division finals immediately precedingthe title series, when Boston beat Syracuse 3-0 and St. Louis beatMinneapolis 3-0.

Of all the3-0 series leads in NBA history, this one might be the mostunexpected — a No. 8 seed in the Heat, a team that struggled justto get into the playoffs, a team that was less than 3 minutes awayfrom being eliminated in the play-in tournament, getting pasttop-seeded Milwaukee in five games, then fifth-seeded New York insix, and now on the brink of denying the No. 2-seeded Celtics asecond consecutive East crown.

Gabe Vincent TOOK OVER Game 3!🔥 29 points (playoff career high)🔥 6 threes (playoff career high)🔥 11-14 shootingMIA can clinch Finals berth Tuesday on TNT pic.twitter.com/iBylN4kBlf

And the Heat let Bostonknowhow much they were enjoying this one.

Mindfulthat Boston’s Al Horford directed a timeout signal toward the Miamibench during Game 1 when the Celtics were on a second-quarter spurtto build a comfortable lead, Butler did the same to Horford as theHeat were running away in the third quarter of Game 3.

Besides,the Heat rallied to win Game 1 anyway. There was no rally requiredin Game 3 by the Heat. There was barely one attempted by theCeltics, for that matter.

Boston gotwithin 61-49 when Marcus Smart had a three-point play on theopening possession of the second half. The rest was all Miami,which immediately answered with a 28-7 run to open a 33-point leadat 89-56, which had the building rolling. The lead was so big, andthere was so much time left, that the sellout crowd of 20,088actually was subdued a bit by the time it was over.

They mighthave been yelled-out. Or maybe they were saving it for hockey onMonday night, when the Florida Panthers — another No. 8 seed on amagical playoff run in South Florida — will try to take a 3-0 leadin their East finals series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

TIP-INS

Celtics:Robert Williams made his first shot, meaning he made 12 straight tostart the series. He missed his second attempt. … The Heatencourage fans to wear white to playoff games, and Tatum alsoarrived in an all-white suit. … Smart appeared to throw a punch inthe third quarter, but missed and after review referees determinedhe did not deserve a flagrant foul or a technical (which would havebeen his second of the night).

Heat:Robinson made five 3-pointers and now has 124 in his Heatpostseason career, passing LeBron James (123) for the most in Miamihistory. ... Butler’s steal with 7:17 left in the first quarter wasthe 2,000th in Heat postseason history. … Shaquille O’Neal, at thegame as part of the TNT broadcast crew, greeted former teammate(and now Heat executive) Alonzo Mourning and got a long ovationwhen introduced during a second-quarter time out. ... Vincent’sprevious career best was 28, set in a Jan. 12 win overMilwaukee.

CONFUSEDDOLPHINS?

MiamiDolphins coach Mike McDaniel, a regular at Heat games this season,tried to get the pregame crowd going by waving one of the giveawaytowels. Dolphins defensive lineman Christian Wilkins was at thegame — wearing green shoes on a night Miami was playing theCeltics, though it should be noted he was born inMassachusetts.

LOVEHURT

Miami’sKevin Love checked out 4:47 into the game after what the Heat saidwas an undisclosed ankle injury. He went to the Heat locker roomfor evaluation, returned to the bench area later in the first half,and started the second half.

QUOTABLE

“The lackof mental toughness. It’s embarrassing … that was an embarrassmentfor the Celtics.” — TNT’s Charles Barkley at halftime, with Bostontrailing 61-46 and after being down by as many as 22 points.